Hide and Seek
by randompotterink
Summary: Imagination and reality, can't have one without the other. But what happens when one BECOMES the other? It's up to the Doctor, and a kid assistant Rachel, to determine what's what before time runs out.
1. Chapter 1  The Strange Man

"Who's that man, Rach?" Ethan asked me, his lovely brown eyes just peeking over the white picket fence enclosing our yard, whereas mine cleared the top perfectly well. He liked to think himself the hero, no matter what game we played, but at times like these, he knew I was really in charge. He was 10, and had a way of looking all innocent like, so it was usually someone else who got blamed for whatever crime he had committed.

"He looks funny," Danny remarked, her small rounded nose wrinkling in disgust. She had one sky blue eye peering through a small hole in the whitewashed wood. Her blonde curls were hopelessly mussed, the ends stained with dirt. Danny was short for Danielle, a name she professed to hate, though I always thought it lovely. That girl could never keep clean, but that didn't stop Mum and the rest of us from trying. She was prone to being ambushed by the rest of us armed with a garden hose.

"I think he looks sad. Just look at his suit, it's all tattered, the poor dear." Marie said quietly, her voice was never more than a whisper. "Poor dear" was her favorite term of endearment. Most adults found it comical to hear coming from a 9 year old child, but I knew she really meant it. She was a real mother hen if there ever was one, though we always made her be the damsel in distress, because she wasn't much good for anything else. She was looking through a small slit between the boards.

"Lift me up! Lift me up! I can't see him!" Colin cried, jumping in a vain attempt to see over the fence. Although he was not the youngest (being older than Danny by 10 minutes, so only barely older) he was definitely the smallest, a fact he constantly protested. He was like one of those little chiwawas, always thinking himself bigger and tougher than he actually was. For this reason he played an excellent pirate captain.

"Alright, alright, keep your shirt on," I told him, taking my eyes off the man in the indeed tattered suit to lift Colin up a little ways so his eyes were about level with Ethan's. Lord knows I couldn't wait for the day he'd be able to see over the fence for himself; Colin was a heavy 8-year-old and it was just pure luck I was strong for being an 11-year-old girl.

He watched us, the man did, and we watched him back. He just stood there, on the corner of Dower and Lenning, watching us. He watched us play, watches us eat, and maybe even watched us sleep for all I knew. He never moved from that spot under the faded red stop sign, hopelessly graffitied with a black marker. But the fact he never moved from his post where he watched us wasn't the weird part. No, the weird part was this: we were the only ones who noticed him.

Mum thought he was just another of our made up stories, and I don't blame her, looking back on it, as we did make up rather a lot of them. But this man was real. Possibly the most real thing in the universe. Maybe that's why we were never scared of him, because he seemed like one of our stories come to life. It made us trust him without even knowing him.

"Kids! Hey, you lot! Dinner time!" came Mum's call from the small kitchen window, its yellow curtains fluttering in the slight breeze. Her voice was as sweet and melodic as a thousand symphonies. There was no better voice on Blume Street, our street, and though she might not have thought it a claim to fame, it was good enough for me.

"Coming!" I called back, replacing Colin on the ground where he belonged and herding the others towards the door. It wasn't an easy task as they were an energetic bunch and liked to run, but after claiming the stump in the middle of the yard as my kingdom (I was Queen of the Stump from then on, as none of them would challenge me, even in play), they all gave up and went inside.

Before stepping through the doorway myself, I looked back at the man, and was astonished to find something I was surprised to find had surprised me: he had moved. Just a step closer to the house, his eyes locked with mine, and a knowing smile stretched across his features. I blinked, and when my eyes reopened, he was still there. It was strange, I had been beginning to sympathize with my mother's theories that he was just pretend, but I hadn't realized it until that moment when it occurred to me he was really there. He tipped me a wink, and that's when I stepped inside, slamming the door swiftly behind me. My heart hammered in my chest, but I wasn't scared, just the opposite, in fact. I felt exhilarated.

And why shouldn't I? I didn't know it then, but I do now. That was the first day that I really met the Doctor. We might not have exchanged any words, but that's okay. We didn't have to. I just had this feeling, like something was going to happen, and I would play a part in it.

My name is Rachel Dunnet, and someday I would help save the world.


	2. Chapter 2 Something Wrong

The first thing I realized when I awoke the next morning was that something was incredibly wrong. The room looked the same as it always had, bright and cheerful and way, way too pink for my tastes, but I suppose that's because Marie was allowed to decorate it, as none of us other girls wanted to. Actually, Danny had wanted to, but I wouldn't let her. Knowing that tomboy of a girl our walls would be army green and the beds would be more cots than anything else.

Excuse me, got sidetracked. Where was I…Oh, yes, something was wrong. My first clue was because I was crying. Crying silently, not that full out blubbering stuff girls are expected to do. And I do not cry. If the boys every found out, well then, I'd be just another girl, wouldn't I? Not someone worthy of leadership, that's for sure. Have to keep face, I do. I didn't remember why I was crying, but I suppose it must've been something pretty awful to reduce me to tears so quickly.

The second clue I received was when I noticed the Doctor. He wasn't standing under that stop sign anymore, no sir. He was standing right next to my bed, looking down at me. There was no smile on his face, no gentleness in his eyes. "What happened?" I asked him, my voice erratic due to my sleepy state. Not a "What are you doing here?" or "Why are you in my room?" My concern was for him, and his state. This was not the way I had left this man. The last time I had seen him, just yesterday evening before supper, he had smiled and winked and promised me a great adventure to come. That was all gone now, and it worried me. I didn't like that look on his face. It was a look that told me he was the best man alive, the person I should trust without a single good reason why. But it was also a look that told me he was one of those people who would always do what they perceived as the right thing, no matter the cost. It had cost this man a lot. I didn't want to be one of those costs.

He looked away from me before he answered. "I don't know," he said, and I was surprised to hear how normal his voice sounded. I guess I was expecting some big booming voice that could challenge kings, sail ships, and control the tides or something like that. It was vaguely disappointing. He looked at me again, his moment of hesitation over and done with. "What I do know is you're not supposed to be here."

This confused me to no end, as you might imagine. "What do you mean I'm not supposed to be here? This is my house; of course I'm supposed to be here."

That's when he smiled, the Doctor did, and it worried me more than his previous expression. I got the feeling this man only smiled when he knew he was right. "What's your name?" he asked me.

"Rachel Dunnet." I replied.

"Well, Rachel Dunnet," he said in that way people have when they say a name for the first time and they're just getting the taste of it right on their tongue, "I'm the Doctor." He held up a small silver tube with a blue light on the end, clearly referencing it. "And this is a sonic screwdriver. It's not often wrong, and according to this," he pointed it at me and the thing started making his humming/buzzing/whirring sound that would ring in my ears for hours afterwards. "According to this, you don't belong here. On Earth, not in this house, though I suppose the house is on Earth...anyways! You clearly have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll just skip to the point. You-"

But before he could tell me just what his point was (and I do admit to being quite mystified as to what it was) we were interrupted. There was a knock at the door. It was soft and secretive, like it was afraid of being heard.

"Rach! Hey, Rach!" came Ethan's voice from the hallway, and I let out a relieved breath. The way things were going, the tension in the air, I had expected a lot worse than Ethan.

"Come on in!" I called softly back to him, relieved that Marie and Danny were such hard sleepers. I was sure they would've woken by now otherwise.

"It's the man, I just happened to look outside and he's gone-" Ethan stopped in his tracks, standing in the center of the room on the fluffy pink rug, his mouth hung agape and completely still for perhaps the first time in his life. "Never mind, I found him."

The Doctor really smiled then, and it was a different, happy sort of smile. I at once assumed it was fake, due to his complete seriousness only moments before. The Doctor seemed a capricious sort of man, if he could change demeanors so quickly, but I guess that's part of what made him charming to our young, fanciful imaginations. "Ah, hello there!" he exclaimed, practically jumping from the side of my bed to walk over to Ethan. The two shook hands, though Ethan seemed skeptical in contrast to the Doctor's excitement. "I'm the Doctor, and who might you be?"

"Ethan Dunnet." He replied suspiciously, quickly removing his hand from the Doctor's grasp. "Say, how did you get in here? We always lock the doors at night."

The Doctor let out a small huff that could've passed for laughter and replied like it was the simplest thing in the world and we were idiots for not knowing. "Sonic screwdriver, of course. There's not a lock anywhere I can't crack with this baby." He held up the screwdriver and did a quick scan of Ethan, as he had done with me. "Interesting…" he murmured under his breath, as he peered at something on the screwdriver too tiny for me to see from my vantage point, nor from Ethan's, I imagine. "Very interesting…"

"Right!" he exclaimed as he stuffed the screwdriver back into his coat pocket and turned to address me once more. "There are five of you correct? You, Ethan, the two girls sleeping and the little boy?"

"Right," I told him, nodding my head and peeling off the covers. I slipped my feet into a pair of fuzzy slippers and wrapped a thin robe around me. I didn't feel I could stay sitting any longer, not with the Doctor here. "And Mum."

He appeared surprised for a moment, and then his face lost its happy expression and settled into a frown. "What? You mean there's an adult here with you? Oh dear, that does make things complicated…You! Ethan! Get the other little boy and bring him in here. I have a feeling this could get messy."


End file.
